Downtown business owners have complained about losing sales because shoppers have such a difficult time finding available parking spots near their stores.
During Monday’s Council meeting, Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna and Nancy Ketch, community development director and grant writer, gave an update on the parking situation about which McKenna has said he regularly gets complaints. Ketch chairs a committee to review downtown parking.
McKenna said that since police had stepped up parking patrols in July, they had written 37 parking tickets, all but one of which had been paid. During the Christmas season, however, warnings were issued instead of tickets.
McKenna said there were 77 parking spaces downtown, and along Main Street in front of the popular restaurants and the fitness center, there were usually only five or six occupied at once. Those spaces, however, typically are the ones in front of local businesses. The municipal lots are not utilized as much.
“What needs to happen is that store owners and employees need to use the lots on Mechanic Street and near the Courthouse,” said the chief.
Ketch said she believed most storeowners would want to open up those spaces for customers.
“One space in the downtown is worth $45 to $50 for a day,” she said. “If those are taken and you are a business owner, that is money right out of your pocket.”
She added people have told her they would like to shop more locally, but they don’t because they can’t park closer to the stores. McKenna said some have suggested raising the two-hour parking limit downtown to four hours, but he said he did not believe that would work.
Town Manager Butch Asselin said that several years ago, there was talk of making the parking spaces on Broadway all-day parking. When he raised the idea with the staff at the Cary Library, however, they did not think it was a good idea.
“They wanted those spaces open for library patrons,” he told councilors.
Ketch suggested a downtown parking study was necessary before any changes were made.
Councilor Wade Hanson said he would support such a study “if one could be conducted at no cost to the town.”
No action was taken by the council during Monday night’s meeting. The matter will be revisited again at a later date.
